Are Books An Endangered Species?

Anonymous says:

If the big publishers die…
…there will still be a market for books and, thus, someone (an intermediary between the smaller publishers and readers/libraries/online services) to supply them. The big publishers are pursuing a business model where they (in overstatement) declare the pulp book dead, push e-books (a promising, steadily growing but not yet nearly as dominating a market force as they would have us believe) as what everyone REALLY wants and hope the market responds according to their wishes. They can tell us (through press releases) what they wish the market to do but as long as there remains a demand for pulp books, someone will supply them and see that they reach the market that demands them. The market knows what it wants. If a publisher won’t supply it, someone else will.

Anonymous says:

Okay, but
You describe the interesting facet of the present situation accurately, I believe. In the near term, publishers are faced with the challenge of keeping print book revenue as strong as possible while uncertainties in the future publishing landscape (digital copyright, royalty arrangements, publishing timelines, business models, number/variety of reader models etc.) become more stable. However, current efforts by publishers to slow sales of ebooks and continuing to promote print books is just a temporary tactic to maintain a comfortable level of revenue while these uncertainties sort themselves out. Ultimately, publishers see ebooks as an opportunity whose benefits (lower production costs, lower distribution costs, greater flexibility in presentation, lease vs. purchase arrangements) will eventually outweigh current limitations. It’s entirely possible that as the situation matures, print runs will decrease as demand ebbs, resulting in higher per unit costs (though not necessarily the total demise) of print books.